Wednesday, 25 February 2015

'Bad Jews' St James Theatre ****

Families, after an integral member of the family has
recently passed away, it will continually cause a giant level of upset and quarrels;
especially when an important possession of theirs, maybe the root of brutal
slaughter within the same family. The St James Theatre’s production of Joshua
Harmon’s play, ‘Bad Jews’, explains how Jewish upbringings may vary in
different people, correspondingly, the performances were exceedingly funny.

‘Bad Jews’ is set in a New York studio apartment where cousins,
Jonah and Daphna are grieving after their grandfather’s funeral. Jonah is a quiet
and conservative young man and cousin. Daphna who is a strict believer, with
her Jewish values, expresses that she’s the only one who cares about being a
Jew. She desires that their grandfather’s chai should be hers, as she is going
to be moving to Israel and it will help be a comforting reminder of her
grandfather. Moreover, Daphna is livid with Jonah’s older brother Liam’s
absence at their grandfather’s funeral, and when he finally arrives in the
evening with his girlfriend, Melody (Gina Bramhill), a ditzy blond, the
conflicts commence immediately between Liam and Daphna. From the outset, we see that the two of them
do not like one another, and as soon as the chai is mentioned in a
conversation, it seems that Liam wants it too, but for dissimilar reason as
Liam is going to use it to propose to Melody. Daphna revels in humiliating Melody, and once
she acquires knowledge of Melody’s operatic past, she manipulates her into
singing in front of Liam, Jonah and herself and it looks like that her vocal abilities
are, somewhat limited. It reminds me of
those horrendous auditions from ‘The X Factor’ and ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ as
such, it amuses Jonah and Daphna profusely. However, when Liam reveals that he is in
possession of the chai, Daphna is furious by her aunt’s betrayal, and a vicious
battle arises with hair pulling, devilish biting, which leads to Daphna triumphing. Harmon’s narrative is sublime as the visceral comedy presents how,
adults cannot seem to act that mature when it comes to thinking, who was their
grandfather’s favourite grandchild. Additionally, he never loses the upsetting
situation of the grandfather’s death when Jonah reveals a tattoo of the number
of their grandfather’s identity in the Holocaust.

One found the performances by the company of ‘Bad Jews’ to
be truly witty and thought-provoking within Harmon’s amazing dialogue. Jenna
Augen is humorous as the slightly attention seeking Daphna; especially when she
violently, and scarily harms Liam’s girlfriend Melody in the fight for her
grandfather’s beloved chai. Joe Coen is
excellent as the quiet Jonah; explicitly when he endeavours to calm the awkward
situation between Liam and Daphna, which does not exactly prove too successful
as, they bicker with each other constantly. Ilan Goodman is rib-tickling as the
self-absorbed Liam; specifically when he pompously claims to Melody, that his
grandfather’s chai was always destined to be his, but this is not the case as there
is no proof to his claims.

Michael Longhurst’s direction is impressive here, as he has stylistically
conveyed how families with identical religious backgrounds have opposing views,
as Daphna is passionate about it, but Liam is disgusted by it. This enables you
to think about whether religion is necessary in today’s culture. Richard Kent’s
design is marvellous, as the attention to detail in immersing the audience into
a New York apartment, and in a family fraught with tension, in which it work
remarkably with opulent effect and the accuracy is wonderful. Overall, I found
the experience of ‘Bad Jews’ to be vastly enjoyable and I recommend it fully when
it transfers to the Arts Theatre in March.